November 14–December 31, 2025
Location: Spatial Metaverse Platform @ Sumi Sauna

View the artwork and attend the exhibition on Metaverse @ Sumi Sauna:
https://www.spatial.io/s/68da85ea3caa80e91a75f1a2

Sensing the City is an exhibition presented inside a metaverse recreation of Sumi Sauna, an old public bathhouse located in front of the Miro Center in Dong-gu, Gwangju. 

The exhibition features artworks by around 20 artists selected by 6 curators from Korea and abroad, including the Light Resonances Artwork AR by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits in collaboration with Krista Dintere (sound) produced by RIXC, curated by Daria Mille (NAIA). The selected artworks by Daria Mille also included Pasing River 2030 - 6 Plus by Ziyang Wu. The exhibition opening featured dynamic artist talks and tours in the individual "sauna rooms" on Metaverse.

The Metaverse exhibition and the Gwangju Miro Center opening was accompanied by the new SensUs Studio opening and Light Resonances showcase, co-organized by NAIA and RIXC in Karlsruhe, Germany.

About Light Resonances AR

Light Resonances AR is an Augmented Reality experience within Symbiotic Cities, an extended-reality project that imagines a speculative, symbiotic smart ecosystem where natural and digital intelligences coexist.

Created by Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits, with sound artist Krista Dintere, the work visualizes and sonifies subtle exchanges between plants and light. Six multispectrally scanned 3D plants gradually shift from natural RGB coloration into spectral forms aligned with non-human perceptual worlds. Their soundscapes evolve accordingly—from field recordings to sonified translations of spectral data—revealing patterns of light absorption, pigment-driven coloration, photosynthetic activity, and plant vitality.

These resonances of light make visible and audible the delicate processes through which plants transform light into life, offering an experiential entry point into imagining symbiotic futures across naturally–artificial urban environments.

The showcase is curated by Daria Mille (NAIA, Karlsruhe) as part of Smart Picnic: Sensing the City, curated by Seungah Lee (Urban Art Lab, Seoul) at the Miro Center, Gwangju.

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Sensing the City exhibition on Metaverse & Miro Center (Korea)

Sensing the City is the first exhibition of the Miro International Network, a project developed to explore new possibilities across city, technology and art. As one of the exhibition’s main programs, an international online roundtable will be held on December 4 in Metaverse @ Sumi Sauna. Curators, artists and researchers from Korea and abroad will join as avatars to share diverse perspectives and practices focused on urban experience in the era of digital transformation, the relationship between technology and the body, and forms of sensory interaction.

View until December 31, 2025 on Metaverese (on computer via browser or on phone via an app):
https://www.spatial.io/s/68da85ea3caa80e91a75f1a2

Exhibition & Roundtable Overview 

Sensing the City is an exhibition presented inside a metaverse recreation of Sumi Sauna, an old public bathhouse located in front of the Miro Center in Dong-gu, Gwangju. By transforming a familiar everyday space into a digital environment for artistic exploration, the exhibition reinterprets the city’s time and lived experiences through new sensory layers. Approximately twenty artists selected by six curators from Korea and abroad participate through video, AR, sound and interactive works, offering a sensory urban experience where the real and the virtual intersect.

The metaverse consists of two zones: the bathhouse and the sauna. The bathhouse serves as the central area for viewing the exhibition and for hosting the international roundtable in real time. Its spatial structure and atmosphere closely follow the original Sumi Sauna, prompting a shift in perception as visitors enter the virtual site. The mirrors on the walls function as portals leading to individual sauna rooms where each artwork is presented. By recontextualizing a modern architectural site filled with layers of local life and memory, Sumi Sauna becomes an experimental platform that extends Gwangju’s cultural archive into a new digital environment.

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Connection to SensUs Karlsruhe

In parallel with the Light Resonances AR presentation in Gwangju and the Metaverse, the NAIA in Karlsruhe is organizing  a local showcase of artworks from the SensUs:  Symbiotic Cities project taking place as a part of  SensUs Studio Opening Program on Thursday, December 5, at 19.00 at Lessingstr. 25, 76135 Karlsruhe (just 8 minutes walk from ZKM).

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SensUs XR Showcase – Karlsruhe

Light Resonances inaugurated the hybrid series NAIA Show+Tell Program 2026, responding to the growing interest in natural intelligence in the era of AI, and the urgent need to protect art–science dialogue with our communities through immersive ecological art, as climate attention once again faded from political agendas.

The first NAIA Show+Tell: Light Resonances took place on Thursday, December 4, at 19:00, for both onsite and online audiences. The evening began with a 30-minute hybrid program, organized in relation to Light Resonances AR showcased at Smart Picnic: Sensing the City during the opening of the Gwangju Miro Center, Korea.

Co-curated by Daria Mille, the program brought together curators, artists, and scientists, contributing to a shared vision of “symbiotic realities” for future cities.

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SensUs XR Showcase

The program was followed by an onsite SensUs XR Showcase, where immersive ecological artworks were experienced via VR headsets and iPads.

The showcase featured Light Resonances and other Augmented and Virtual Reality artworks by artist duo Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits, alongside works by Isabella Münnich and Anna Manankina. Together with other invited young artists, they explored the SensUs Augmented Reality platform through curated residencies during the summer—transforming augmented experience into a shared vision of “symbiotic futures.”

The event took place within the activity program of the NAIA – Naturally Artificial Intelligence Art Association, co-organized by curator Daria Mille and artist-researcher Rasa Smite.

The program was supported by SensUs Studio (Lessingstraße 25, Karlsruhe) and the RIXC Art Science Center (Riga), activating international networks for new global connections and hybrid participation.

Light Resonances AR

Light Resonances AR was an Augmented Reality experience within Symbiotic Cities, an extended-reality project imagining a speculative, symbiotic smart ecosystem in which natural and digital intelligences coexisted.

Created by Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits, with sound artist Krista Dintere, the work visualized and sonified subtle exchanges between plants and light. Six multispectrally scanned 3D plants gradually shifted from natural RGB coloration into spectral forms aligned with non-human perceptual worlds.

The soundscapes evolved accordingly—from field recordings to sonified translations of spectral data—revealing patterns of light absorption, pigment-driven coloration, photosynthetic activity, and plant vitality.

These resonances of light made visible and audible the delicate processes through which plants transformed light into life, offering an experiential entry point into imagining symbiotic futures across naturally–artificial urban environments.

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Looking Ahead

Starting in 2026, the organizers planned to launch Last Fridays—opening the studio for visits and showcase events every last Friday of the month (next: January 29, 2026).

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Programme

Thursday, 4.12., 19:00–ca. 21:00

PechaKucha Presentations

• Smart Picnic: Sensing the City — Daria Mille (10 min)

• SensUs XR Platform — Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Krista Dintere (10 min)

• Multispectral Explorations: Burachero Dreams — Felipe Castelblanco (online)

Artwork Showcases

• Light Resonances (2025, AR)

• Solarceptors (2025, VR)
  by Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits

With Symbiotic Cities Contributions by SensUs Artists

• Isabella Münnich

• Anna Manankina

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Additional Viewing Slots

Friday, 5.12., 15:00–18:00 – Private individual studio visits

• Solarceptors VR (2025), 10-minute viewings

• Light Resonances AR (2025) on the SensUs Art Platform

• SensUs Art Platform — 6 new Symbiotic Cities artworks (App Store / Google Play)

Possible extension: Saturday, 6.12., afternoon, upon request

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Registration (free) took place via Eventbrite for both onsite and online participation.

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Next NAIA SensUs Immersive Studio Showcase: Friday, January 29, 2026

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Organizer

Naturally Artificial Intelligence Art Association (NAIA)
Co-Chairs: Rasa Smite and Daria Mille
Coordinator: Daina Siliņa

Address: Lessingstraße 25, 76135 Karlsruhe (ground floor EG, ring Smite/Smits), 8-minute walk from ZKM
E-mail: smite.rasa@gmail.com
Website: http://naia.center
Phone: +49 1517 0253748 (Rasa Smite)

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http://sensusart.rixc.org